Edit]Relationship with other courts

[edit]The European Court of Justice

Main article: Relationship between the European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) is not related to the European Court of Human Rights. However, since all EU states are members of the Council of Europe and have signed the Convention on Human Rights, there are concerns about consistency in case law between the two courts. The ECJ refers to the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and treats the Convention on Human Rights as though it was part of the EU's legal system, since it forms part of the legal principles of the EU member states. Even though its member states are party to the Convention, the European Union itself is not a party, as it did not have competence to do so under previous treaties. However, EU institutions are bound under article 6 of the EU Treaty of Nice to respect human rights under the Convention. Furthermore, since the Treaty of Lisbon took effect on 1 December 2009, the EU is expected to sign the Convention. This would mean that the Court of Justice is bound by the judicial precedents of the Court of Human Rights's case law and thus be subject to its human rights law, avoiding issues of conflicting case law between these two courts.^[22]

[edit]National courts

Most of the Contracting Parties to the European Convention on Human Rights have incorporated the Convention into their own national legal systems, either through constitutional provision, statute or judicial decision.^[23]

[edit]Criticism

The court's interpretation of the Convention's reach is at times subject to criticism as either too narrow or too wide. For instance, the former judge in respect of Cyprus, Loukis Loucaides, criticised the Court for a "reluctance to find violations in sensitive matters affecting the interests of the respondent States".^[24] On the other hand, the British Law Lord, Lord Hoffmann argued in 2009 that the Court has not taken the doctrine of the margin of appreciation far enough, being "unable to resist the temptation to aggrandise its jurisdiction and to impose uniform rules on Member States. It considers itself the equivalent of the Supreme Court of the United States, laying down a federal law of Europe".^[25] Lord Hoffman considered that the ability of the court to interfere in the detail of domestic law ought to be curtailed.^[26] He was joined in the criticism by the president of the Belgian Constitutional Court, Marc Bossuyt.^[27]

Criticism from Russia, a country held to be in violation of the Convention by the Court in many decisions, is frequent. The Court's judge in respect of Russia, Anatoly Kovler, explaining his frequent dissenting opinions, noted that "I dislike when the Court evaluates non-European values as reactionary (Refah v. Turkey)".^[28] The chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin, pointing to the Markin v. Russia case, stated that Russia has the right to create a mechanism of protection from Court decisions "touching the national sovereignty, the basic constitutional principles".^[29]

There has also been criticism of the Court's structure. Loucaides wrote that by introducing in its Rules a Bureau, the Court created "a separate collective organ that had nothing to do with the structure of the Court organs according to the Convention".^[30]

[edit]Architecture

Main article: European Court of Human Rights building

European Court of Human Rights

The building, which houses the court chambers and Registry (administration and référendaires), was designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership and completed in 1995. The design is meant to reflect, amongst other things, the two distinct components of the Commission and Court (as it was then). Wide scale use of glass emphasises the openness of the court to European citizens.^{[citation needed]}

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg was established under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) of 1950 to monitor compliance by Contracting Parties. The European Convention of Human Rights, formally named the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, is one of the most important conventions adopted by the Council of Europe. All 47 member states of the Council of Europe are contracting parties of the Convention which has the status of an international treaty. Applications against Contracting Parties for human rights violations can be brought before the Court either by other States Parties or by individuals. Founded in 1953, the Court became permanent and full-time in 1998, the first of its type in the world.

The scope of the European Court of Human Rights and the legally binding nature of its decisions remain unique in international law. The ultimate aim, however, is for the need for legal protection and legal redress to itself become redundant. Instead, respect for rights and freedoms will become part of what makes people human. The vision behind the founding of the post-World War II European institution was not only to make war "unthinkable and materially impossible" but to change the way people think and act so that global solidarity, respect for rights, and for human dignity will become automatic, scarcely in need of legal protection at all.

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 723